Whether you’re a landlord struggling to evict a tenant who isn’t paying rent, or a tenant facing an unlawful rent hike or eviction, the substantial backlog at the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) can make it difficult to have your case heard or resolved.
The most recent data, from March 2023, indicates a backlog of more than 53,000 cases before the LTB, a figure that dwarfs the 14,276 unresolved cases just five years prior in 2018.
Over that span, average wait times have ballooned from 32 days to 342 days for orders on arrears evictions, with tenant applications similarly rising from an average of 70 days to 427 days.
The issue is something Kingston and the Islands MPP Ted Hsu hopes to address through the proposed Bill 179 — the Fewer Backlogs and Less Partisan Tribunals Act, 2024 — legislation he has worked on with three fellow MPPs from the Ontario Liberal Party.
The bill aims to address issues across numerous Ontario tribunals, such as the Social Benefits Tribunal, License Appeal Tribunal, and others.
“The big one, of course, is the Landlord and Tenant Board,” Hsu told OrilliaMatters. “Whether you're a tenant and you've got problems with your apartment or problems with a neighbour, or maybe you're a small landlord and you haven't been paid rent in several months, you have to wait seven or eight months before you can even get a hearing.”
One of the key issues, Hsu says, is that the adjudicators on the board are often selected in a partisan manner by the reigning party, only to not be renewed when a new government takes the reigns.
LTB adjudicators are currently selected on the recommendation of the party in power’s Attorney General; at present that is Orillia lawyer Doug Downey, the MPP for Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte.
“There was a big turnover in the membership of these tribunal adjudicators when the government changed in 2018,” Hsu said. “A lot of people who were appointed under the previous government … didn't get renewed by the current government, and then the current government took a long time to fill the empty spots.”
When the pandemic hit in 2020, the issue only compounded, Hsu said, as online proceedings led to less and less settlements between parties, further contributing to the backlog.
Hsu said the government has “hired a ton of people” to address backlogs, although issues still persist as new adjudicators take time to adjust to their role.
“It just takes time to find all these people, and they left seats open,” he said. “The Landlord and Tenant Board, Ontario Human Rights Tribunal, Social Benefits Tribunal, they lost a third of their adjudicators between 2018 and 2020, so they just weren't hearing as many cases and the backlog started to build up.”
A part of the solution Bill 179 proposes is making adjudicator appointments less partisan in nature.
If an adjudicator does a good job on the tribunal they serve, Hsu said reappointment should be an option even if their political affiliations differ from the party in power.
“What this bill does is, first of all, it makes it harder to just get rid of somebody who is appointed before, but is good at the job and gets recommended by the chair to be reappointed,” he said.
The bill proposes an appeal mechanism through an adjudicative tribunal justice council, an independent body that can provide hearings and help retain competent adjudicators.
“It's neutral, so if somebody is doing a good job and the chair recommends them for reappointment, and they don't get reappointed by the Minister, they get to go to the council,” Hsu said.
Hsu said the council could help not only retain good talent, but encourage others to consider careers in adjudication, which will ultimately help reduce the backlog of cases before Ontario tribunals.
“It cuts both ways. If a Liberal government takes over in 2026, and there's competent people — it doesn't matter if they were connected with the Conservative Party if they did a good job and the chair recommends them for renewal — the Liberal government should reappoint them.”
The bill is slated for its second reading at Queen’s Park on April 18, and Hsu encouraged residents to reach out to their MPPs about the issue.
He said the bill has received some support from members of the Ontario NDP and Green parties, and highlighted that — should it pass into law — won’t come into full effect for at least one year.
“I'm very, very conscious that we don't want to just create another layer of bureaucracy. We're trying to speed things up,” Hsu said.
Matt Lund, an Orillia paralegal with ties to the Ontario Liberals, has helped Hsu and the other MPPs with the bill.
In his work, he regularly runs into issues with landlords and tenants faced with lengthy delays in LTB proceedings, particularly as affordability issues have worsened in the past few years.
“It's absolutely insane,” he said. “You can't find an apartment for less than $2,000 most of the time, and I see landlords that are trying to kick out tenants because they're paying $2,100 in rent rather than $3,000, so they'll try to evict tenants just to move their apartments along.”
He said it can lead to huge problems.
“When you're a landlord that hasn't (had their rent paid) in over a year, and now you owe $50,000 on your mortgage, you're gonna default; you're gonna lose everything," said Lund who unsuccessfully ran for Orillia city council in the last municipal election.
“You see it everywhere, and that's why we're having so many backlogs because there's so many issues.”
Beyond the issue of partisan appointments to adjudicator positions, Lund also takes issue with appointees who do not have relevant qualifications for the role.
He cited former Simcoe North MPP Bruce Stanton’s appointment to the License Appeal Tribunal upon retirement, as well as Simcoe Grey MP Terry Dowdall’s wife, Colleen Healy-Dowdall, recent appointment as an adjudicator.
“There’s no practical reason why she should be an adjudicator other than it's a political appointment,” he said.
More about Bill 179 may be read here.